Field-gradient measurement using a Stern-Gerlach atomic interferometer with butterfly geometry

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel Stern-Gerlach butterfly atomic interferometer designed for highly sensitive measurement of magnetic field gradients, with adjustable trajectories and robustness against misalignments.

Contribution

It presents a new SG butterfly interferometer configuration that enhances sensitivity and stability compared to traditional designs.

Findings

The SG interferometer's atomic trajectories can be tuned via magnetic fields.

It maintains high contrast despite positional and momentum misalignments.

The design generalizes conventional butterfly interferometers using Raman transitions.

Abstract

Atomic interferometers have been studied as a promising device for precise sensing of external fields. Among various configurations, a particular configuration with a butterfly-shaped geometry has been designed to sensitively probe field gradients. We introduce a Stern-Gerlach (SG) butterfly interferometer by incorporating magnetic field in the conventional butterfly-shaped configuration. Atomic trajectories of the interferometer can be flexibly adjusted by controlling magnetic fields to increase the sensitivity of the interferometer, while the conventional butterfly interferometer using Raman transitions can be understood as a special case. We also show that the SG interferometer can keep high contrast against a misalignment in position and momentum caused by the field gradient.